Oman saw strong economic growth in 2021 despite pandemic; Minister

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By Shilpa Annie Joseph, Official Reporter
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Oman’s Minister of Economy His Excellency Dr. Saeed bin Muhammad Al Saqri has stated that the Sultanate’s economy grew strongly in 2021, because of the government’s rationalization projects and overall performance across all sectors despite the challenges posed by COVID-19.

The minister said that the economic growth is driven by the overall improvement in the performance of oil activities, which recorded a growth of 25.5 percent in 2021, and the growth of non-oil activities by 7.8 percent.

“The efforts made by the government in raising the efficiency of spending led to the improved economic performance and higher overall performance in the economy,” Dr. Al Saqri said during the talk show “With the Youth.”

Saeed bin Muhammad Al Saqri
Dr. Saeed bin Muhammad Al Saqri
Oman Minister of Economy

“An increase in the inflation rate by 4.4 percent is expected as a result of the repercussions of the ‘COVID-19’ pandemic and the challenges of supply chains, and it is addressed through several tools, including spending control, reviewing wages paid, the interest rate in banks and interest rates on government bonds, and through which it can be controlled at least the internal inflation rate. The Ministry of Economy and many government agencies launched several economic stimulus programs to treat the groups affected by the “COVID 19″ pandemic, which had a role in maintaining the continuity of many economic activities, especially small and medium enterprises.”

Furthermore, the Economy minister emphasized the importance of adhering to the financial framework program of the tenth five-year plan and its economic framework to improve performance in general, and it is expected that 27,000 jobs will be generated annually.

“The Ministry is working on automating the follow-up of the performance of the various economic sectors and linking with ministries and other government agencies to follow up the performance of these economic sectors and disseminate the performance of economic sectors through the National Centre for Statistics and Information,” the minister concluded.

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